Boise school board member tackled by security after jumping onstage at Ron DeSantis event
We’ve disrupted Ron DeSantis’ campaign for the second time in 3 days. Young people deserve a future, and until the caucus, Ron’s future will include us pic.twitter.com/TsCKGz0Cwn
— Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt) January 12, 2024
A Boise school board member was tackled and kicked out of a Ron DeSantis event last week after protesting the candidate’s stance on climate change.
While giving a speech at a campaign rally in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday, Republican candidate Ron DeSantis was interrupted by Boise School Board Trustee Shiva Rajbhandari, who hopped onto the stage.
“Ron DeSantis is a climate criminal,” Rajbhandari repeatedly shouted while holding a sign emblazoned with those same words. “How much money are you taking from oil companies?”
Security guards quickly grabbed Rajbhandari and tackled him to the ground. The school board member told the Idaho Statesman that security then escorted him out.
“This is wrong with the college system right there,” DeSantis said, pointing at Rajbhandari. “That’s exhibit A.”
DeSantis once assumed a more moderate approach toward climate change but has taken a notable shift while on the campaign trail.
Since launching his presidential bid, he has promised to withdraw the United States from global climate change pacts, end commitments to cut net greenhouse emissions and approve more pipelines to increase domestic oil and gas production.
Rajbhandari was protesting with the climate policy nonprofit Sunrise Movement. Rajbhandari is a paid part-time organizer for the group but said he was acting as a volunteer while in Iowa. The group also protested recent Iowa events for candidates Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump.
The Boise High School graduate was elected into a two-year term on the school board during his senior year. He now serves remotely while an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Police previously arrested Rajbhandari in September when he protested fossil fuel use in New York City.
The trustee said he got on the Iowa stage because “playing by the rules has not worked when it comes to the climate crisis.”
“Americans are losing their homes, their loved ones, their livelihoods, in the face of storms, fires, floods and droughts,” Rajbhandari said by phone. “Republican politicians are taking millions of dollars from oil and gas companies and then lying right to our faces. In Ron DeSantis’ case, he sold out Florida to the fossil fuel industry, and now he wants to sell out our entire country.”
Boise School Board President Dave Wagers told the Statesman that he does not approve of Rajbhandari’s recent behavior, but noted that the board does not have the power to remove an elected trustee.
“Personally, I found Trustee Rajbhandari’s recent antics in Iowa disrespectful,” Wagers said by email. “More importantly, his behavior undermines the work our Board, our teachers, and our administrators do every day to ensure our students and families are treated with respect and dignity. Frankly, his actions not only undermine the trust our community places in our schools, but also our Board’s ability to work as a team.”
Rajbhandari said he didn’t see any conflict between being a trustee and a climate activist. He suggested more Idaho leaders should take a stand on the issue.
“I ran to give students a voice and this is what students are seeing every day in our lives,” Rajbhandari said. “We know we’re running out of time, and I think it’d be really difficult to find a student in the Boise School District who doesn’t believe that the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. And, as a leader, I felt very much compelled to do something about it.”
DeSantis’ campaign did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for comment.
